The current economy has most of us in search of a magical land unaffected by high gas prices and the credit crisis. Sadly, there is no magical land, but there are places were you can stretch your dollar a little further than others. Forbes has put together a Best and Worst Bang For the Buck list that takes into account the rank of job-growth projections, inflation, median house price, and median household income, median income and cost of living index, and gas prices.
The Best Value Cities are:
- Portland, OR
- Denver, CO
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
- Dallas, TX
- Columbus, OH
- Charlotte, NC
- Houston, TX
- Indianapolis, IN
- San Antonio, TX
- Austin, TX
For the list of America's Worst-Value Cities, read more.
America's Worst-Value Cities are:
- Sacramento, CA
- Washington, DC
- St. Louis, MO
- Milwaukee, WI
- New York, NY
- Cleveland, OH
- Philadelphia, PA
- New Orleans, LA
- Providence, RI
- Los Angeles, CA
Looks like Texas is the place to be. Did your city make the list?
See by Chloe
Up as one of the worst. Yay Philly.
1Yay Portland!
2another reason to love my beautiful city of Austin! We #1!
3I love Portland. I think it really is a magical place...if it would rain a little less, I'd be there in a heartbeat.
LA is definitely not a good bang for your buck, whether you're renting or own a place. Money just goes down the drain there for very poor public services. That's what happens when there's too much population growth way too quickly. The schools, roads, transit systems, and public spaces just can't catch up. I'd say Forbes hits the nail on the head with their lists.
4Yay for Portland!
I can't wait to move there.
5Yay for Portland...but getting a job here is SO HARD! I've been at it for 3 months!
6well i'm not surprised that some of the TX towns are on the best list, but im kind of surprised that NYC isn't higher than it is on the list. i find that i can't stretch my dollar very far here cause the cost for even my metrocard keeps going up, but compared to buying gas and all that - maybe it's not quite so bad.
7Wow D.C was one of the worst.
8My city isn't on either list so I guess we are a happy medium.
9Yup, Dallas is there and it is a great place to get your money's worth.
10Once again it's all about TX. too bad I hate it here
11Gotta love TX!! YEA!!
12Wow- go LA as being the #1 worst place to be. Looks like I should move to TX.
13Minneapolis/St. Paul!
14I love Portland!! The best city I've ever lived!!
15Not surprised that NYC is on the worst list. It's a great city but waay too expensive.
16Ugh... of course NYC is one of the worst. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, but sometimes I just feel like moving.
17No! Don't let more people in on the secret of how great Austin is. Seriously, the rich Californians moving here are driving up our housing prices. Also, all those new condos filling up every street corner within 5 miles of downtown are destroying the uniqueness of the city.
Actually, I'm just bitter because my old apartment complex, which was in an awesome part of town (S. Congress Ave.), evicted me after the management sold out and decided to convert into condos.
18While Los Angeles rents may be generally less than San Francisco or New York, the lack of public transportation, the spreading sprawl and lack of a centralized city center kind of even everything out. I still wouldn't trade it in for anything though, L.A. has its values for me.
19oh D.C. how i love to hate you...
20Interesting that I have only ever, and appears that I only will ever (if my husband has his way once we move next), live in the worst-value cities. Oh, well. No offense, but none of the best value cities particularly appeal to me, anyway!
21I'm actually pretty surprised to see Dallas on the GOOD list. And it's a shame Seattle isn't on the good list, because it's my dream city.
22This just piles on the guilt - I have been "trying to adjust" to Houston for almost 8 years, but I haven't managed to fall in love with it yet. At least I was upfront with myself when I said I was staying here for $ reasons.
23Too bad none of the "best" cities appeal to me. I'll stick with my lousy value in the best city in the world, NYC! Besides, who needs those other cities when its dirt cheap to escape overseas from NY?
24Yaay gooo Houston! Soo many people relocate here for our job market and housing prices.. Man four cities from Texas are on the best list! That's awesome! I love living in Houston!
25Providence?? Really? That kinda shocks me...
26I moved from Dallas to DC (with a brief stop in Tulsa). Whoops....
27I'm not a fan of Texas myself and hopefully I wont be here too much longer...but while I'm here it's nice to know I'm getting good bang for my buck.
28I totally thought St. Louis would be on the best list but on the worst? The list has to be flawed. We have the 2nd cheapest gas in the nation and I know things are so much cheaper here than when I travel. What's the deal??? Maybe people don't get paid as well?
29I'm surprised Cleveland is on the worst values list! I moved from there to DC and it seems like everything is so much costlier here. (Although, I guess the four spots higher that DC is on the list could account for the difference.)
30I sometimes skip around and I just saw that it takes in to account job growth projections. I'm guessing that's part of what put Cleveland on the list.
31In looking at the lists on Forbes, I think the order of the ones posted here is backwards. (Well, somewhat backwards and somewhat just out of order. Here's the order they give on Forbes:
Best:
1. Austin
2. San Antonio
3. Indianapolis
4. Houston
5. Charlotte
6. Columbus
7. Dallas
8. Minneapolis/St. Paul
9. Denver
10.Portland
Worst:
321. Los Angeles
2. Providence
3. New Orleans
4. Philadelphia
5. Cleveland
6. New York
7. Milwaukee
8. St. Louis
9. Washington, D.C.
10.Sacramento
OK, just backwards, I guess! Maybe I am looking at it incorrectly, though. Did anyone else see it the same way I did?
33yay Portland! my hometown
34One more reason to hate L.A.
Infrastructure is awful, schools are the pits, traffic congestion is bad and getting worse. And how many other U.S. cities have a wildfire season?
It's so not worth it for the sunshine.
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